Slender: The Arrival Wii U review

Slender Man has gained quite the popularity these past few years. First he was a meme, then a hit web-game, and now a bigger released game on PC and consoles with Slender: The Arrival. It was released on PC in 2013 and then came out on the PS3 and 360 the following year. Now it’s been out on the PS4 and Xbox One since March and Wii U owners are finally getting their slice of the spooky pie here in October, but was it worth the extra time waiting?

The one thing that makes the Wii U version unique is off-TV play, meaning you can get spooked while your roommates/significant other is watching baseball or something. Not that the game looked amazing on PC, but it certainly looks worse on the last-gen consoles and Wii U. Poor textures, heavy pixellation and framerate lag make for an ugly presentation that thankfully doesn’t distract from the truly frightening experience this game offers.

You play as Lauren, a woman who is visiting her friend Kate at her late mother’s house. When Lauren arrives, Kate is nowhere to be seen leaving behind drawings on the wall of Slender Man. This puts Lauren on a quest to not only find her friend, but to not get taken by Slender Man himself. As you progress through the game, there are letters to be found that were written between Lauren, Kate, and their friend CR which help reveal what’s going on in the region and why Slender Man is so interested in the two women. I played this game last year on PC and there have been story elements patched into later versions which are present here only adding to its $10 value.

The first Slender Man game, Slender: The Eight Pages, involved you going around a dark forest looking for eight pages while also avoiding Slender Man who could surprise you at any time. I have to give both games credit, while they do rely on jump scares for novelty, they use the music and darkness to build tension. The Arrival goes even further though with a cryptic story that you might not get during your first playthrough. My first one on PC took 2 hours while my second on Wii U took 2 and a half, mainly due to the fact there were two chapters I missed the first time. There are about 4 main chapters that definitely need to be completed but there are optional chapters that can easily be missed if you don’t look hard enough for their triggers (like a VCR or teddy bear).

I’m glad this game is short, because I honestly could not handle more hours of light puzzle-solving and looking for pages or generators. I didn’t spoil anything, those are the first few chapters consisting of walking around looking for stuff while avoiding Slender Man. Not to say it’s poor design, it’s just been done in horror games before. The thing about the search-and-find formula in this game is that the items are procedurally generated, meaning if you die and come back to the level, they’re not in the same spot as before. This is fair considering it would be too easy if you knew where everything was while a tall, skinny, faceless guy in an expensive suit is trying to hunt you down and eat you. Does Slender Man eat his victims? I don’t even know anymore. I did find that the chapters do get frustrating when you’ve been searching a long time for the last page to the point where Slender Man goes from a terrifying menace to a bothersome obstacle.

Final Reaction

Unlike most Wii U ports, Slender: The Arrival features everything the other versions have. While it does look much uglier thanks to running on an underpowered system, it still doesn’t take away from the game’s frightening persona and suspenseful atmosphere. While it’s short and far from perfect, $10 is not a bad deal if you’re looking for a solid horror game to play on your Wii U.